Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-154720 discloses an inverter that is capable of cooling a switching element without using a cooling fan. The inverter includes a switching element and a cooling device for preventing overheat of the switching element. In the inverter, an electronic cooling device constituted by a Peltier element is used as the cooling device.
However, in the inverter disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-154720, a power source for the Peltier element needs to be provided in addition to a power source for supplying electric power to the inverter. Further, a dedicated power line needs to be provided to extend from the power source for the Peltier element to the Peltier element, thus preventing simplification of a circuit configuration.